Generally, a pipeline system provides a continuous pipe conduit that includes a variety of components and equipment, e.g., valves, compressor stations, communications systems, and meters. A pipeline may be used to transport liquid or gaseous materials from one point to another, usually from one point (or points) of production or processing to another, or to points of use. That is, a producer may deliver product to customers through the pipeline. For example, an air separation unit (ASU) may be used to separate atmospheric air into gaseous components (e.g., oxygen gas (O2), nitrogen gas (N2), hydrogen gas (H2), Argon gas (Ar), etc.) delivered to a variety of customers at downstream points along a pipeline. At compressor stations, compressors maintain the pressure of the material in the pipeline as it is transported. Similarly, for a liquid bearing pipeline, pumps may be used to introduce and maintain pressure for a liquid substance transported by the pipeline.
Obviously, running and maintaining a collection of ASUs used to generate gaseous oxygen (and other substances) delivered through pipeline system is a complex endeavor. To manage this complexity, the operations of a pipeline system may be coordinated and controlled from a central operations control center. At such a control center, an operator may monitor process data related to the operational state of the ASUs, the pipeline and each of its constituent elements using a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system. Other complex industrial systems and processes use a similar approach. For example, a petroleum refinery (at one end of a pipeline) may be monitored from a central control center using a real-time status database configured to receive data collected from the field devices of the refinery. Similarly, electrical generation facilities, chemical production or processing facilities, steel mills, manufacturing plants, assembly lines, etc., are frequently monitored using on a centralized operations control center.
In addition to the operational complexity of these types of large industrial operations, managing the financial side of such an operation presents a substantial challenge. Among other things, e.g., an operator needs to monitor the amount of commodity materials (e.g., electricity, natural gas, etc.) consumed in generating product for delivery customers. The amount (and source) of different commodity materials used in production may greatly impact the profitability of the overall operation. Further, the operator may have a variety of different pricing arrangements with different commodity suppliers (of both the same and different commodities). Some such arrangements may be regulated (e.g., electricity subject to a rate tariff) contractual (e.g., a requirements contract), while others commodities supplies may simply be subject to market forces. Further still, a pipeline operator may have a variety of customers each with a distinct set of contractual requirements that affect how much the pipeline operator may charge or pass on different commodity costs, e.g., for minimum volume delivery, price points for different instantaneous flow rates, force majeure requirements, pass through requirements (what costs of production are passed on to the customer), and price adjustments, etc.